If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Brother Jeffrey. No i am not a priest, but according to bigfoot2 I am "one righteous dude" I was introduced to BF2 on the trail by my brother rip waverly as brother jeffrey and a trail name was born amongst the obsidian. That was my first hang with "random Internet people" as my lady friend puts it. Glad I got introduced to the forums. The obsidian trail is where my avatar was taken.

Those who speak don't know, those who know don't speak.

“They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price. ” ― Khalil Gibran

Pretty simple for me. The AT is about 10 miles from me in MD and I'be been blundering around on it for what seems like forever (early 70's). Just recently made the transition to hammock camping and am planning to have my first hang before the end of April.

Who is QiWiz? Inquiring minds want to know, apparently . . .

I get asked this a lot, so as a newbie to the forum, here's the explanation.

I got the name when I learned to do acupuncture, which was about eight years ago now. See in Chinese medicine, the life force energy running through channels in the body is called Qi (pronounced chee). So I am a Qi Wiz, or QiWiz for short. It is also a play on words, as many fellow hikers have figured out. (Gee whiz!, OR did you say Cheese Wiz?) So maybe I am just a clever guy . . .

Anyway, I am a persistent gear tweaker, having modified or enhanced just about everything I use for backpacking. Most projects are just for my personal enjoyment, but it did not end there. I'm now a "hobbyist" gear maker with my own website. Who knew?

I do backpack year round, mostly in the Western Pennsylvania woodlands, though I try to get out in the Western US once or twice a year as well. I am a life member of both the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and of www.backpackinglight.com and also support www.whiteblaze.net

After being chased out of a campsite by a bear one night and watching the better part of our gear become a snack and or play toy it was an easy ongoing joke to sleep with one eye open, hence "eyes wide shut." There's really nothing worse than being awoken to five friends screaming bloody murder at the sight of a hungry and curious several hundred pound bear wandering through camp!

So, being as imaginitive as a post, yet getting the concept of "screen name", I struggled a lot. After all, I'm perfectly fine with using my given name. But that's no fun, I know.

Anyway, ol' daddy speaks of what I'm probably best known for: the guy with a large family (and who started all over again at age 50) who drives a funky looking 15-passenger van to move everyone around in.

I am a Bamaboy through and through. ROLL TIDE! I will probably end a lot of posts with that. Even did when Shula was coach. Lol. I have used BB2132 since high school. 21 was my dads sports number and 32 was mine. If you google bb2132 a lot of my posts over the years will pop up.